Identity Finder LLC has released an analysis of the information obtained and posted by hacking group Anonymous after it attacked Stratfor

A new study has found specific details concerning Anonymous' recent successful hack on the intelligence company Stratfor, such as the number of credit card numbers obtained.

Identity Finder LLC, a technology security company that finds and protects sensitive data, has released an analysis of the information obtained and posted by hacking group Anonymous after it attacked Stratfor. So far, Anonymous has posted information regarding Stratfor subscribers with first names beginning with A through M, and it is assumed that those beginning with N through Z will be posted later.

According to the analysis, 50,277 unique credit card numbers were in the files posted by Anonymous, where 9,651 have not expired yet. The analysis also noted 86,594 email addresses, where 47,680 are unique; 27,537 phone numbers, where 25,680 are unique; 44,188 encrypted passwords, where 50 percent could have easily been cracked, and 13,973 U.S. addresses.

Password strength was noted as an important issue, where 73.7 percent of decrypted passwords were weak, 21.7 percent were of medium strength, and only 4.6 percent were strong. About 10 percent of decrypted passwords were less than five characters long, while only 4.8 percent were 10 or more characters long.

“This is the latest data leak by ‘breachers’ who not only hack into corporations but also breach their data privacy by posting the information online,” said Aaron Titus, Identity Finder’s Privacy Officer.

“Unfortunately this problem will only get worse unless corporations minimize their data footprint and shrink their data target. The number of posted passwords and the threat of password re-use is significant. Passwords are a digital identity and password reuse is a serious problem that could lead toward identity fraud. The victims will have no way to know when an identity thief is reusing their email and password combination to attempt to log into their online bank, an online retailer where they have saved their credit card for future purchases, or other online accounts such as e-mail."

In addition to posting names beginning with N through Z next, Anonymous claims to have copied 2.7 million emails which will be posted next.

Not for nothing, but I mean anyone who purchases anything online has submitted their personal financial data 'to the cloud'. It's not realistic to ask consumers not to purchase things online...

The storage of data happens without their direct knowledge, no matter how many walls of text you push in a users face detailing this, it simply isn't realistic to expect the average end-user / consumer to read several pages of license or usage agreements and actually understand them and the ramifications.

Sorry if I misunderstood what you meant, but this is was I gleemed from it at first pass.